2010 ISP reports slight rise in LTIs, fatalities

A total of 34 fatalities were reported in 2010, a 0.014 fatality incidence rate. That’s down from 2009’s 0.015.

The drilling industry lost some ground in 2010 when it came to its lost-time incidence (LTI), recordable incidence and fatality rates, according to the newest IADC Incident Statistics Program (ISP) report.

Last year, the industry’s worldwide LTI numbers moved from 2009’s record low of 0.37 up to 0.38, worsening by 3%. The recordables rates moved up from 1.22 to 1.31, which is 7% worse than the 2009 report of 1.22.

The number of fatalities rose from 32 to 34 last year; however, the 2010 fatality incidence rate declined to 0.014, compared with 0.015 in 2009.

Looking at the longer-term trend, the industry’s efforts toward safety have resulted in the occupational LTI rate falling from more than 14.00 in 1963 to 0.38 in 2010, which is a 38-fold improvement.

A total of 111 contractors, representing approximately 78% of the worldwide oil and gas well drilling rig fleet, participated in the 2010 ISP, which has tracked safety and accident information for the drilling industry since 1962. Data here account for 459.391 million manhours worked, during which a total of 846 LTIs and 3,010 recordable incidents were reported.

As with previous years, in 2010 the floorman position suffered the largest percentage of lost-time injuries and recordable incidents.

A total of 34 fatalities were reported in 2010; the incidence rate was 0.014, compared with 2009’s 0.015. Employees with one to five years of service with the company accounted for 15 fatalities, the largest percentage. Twelve fatalities occurred to employees who had less than six months of service, and three had between six months and a year of service. Two of the victims had worked for the company between five to 10 years and one victim had worked for the company for 10 years or more.

Fingers are still the most vulnerable part of the body, statistics show.

Five fatalities occurred during rigging up or down operations. Ten of the fatalities involved “struck by” incidents while six involved “caught between” incidents. Eight of the fatalities occurred to floormen; 11 were supervisors of drillers or above.

Fatalities by region

Contractors in the European land and offshore categories together worked more than 62.14 million manhours in 2010 with no fatalities. Within this category, offshore workers accounted for 30.71 million manhours while land had 31.43 million manhours.

“Caught between” incidents accounted for the most LTI and recordable injuries and was closely followed by “struck by” injuries.

US land and offshore contractors together worked more than 118.44 million manhours and reported a total of 22 fatalities. Onshore operations accounted for 84.54 million manhours worked with 13 fatalities while offshore contractors worked 33.9 million manhours and reported nine fatalities.

Canadian contractors accounted for 3.3 million manhours and no fatalities. In this region, land workers reported 2.27 million manhours while offshore workers reported 1.06 million manhours.

The Central America and Caribbean region accounted for 11.75 million manhours altogether with one fatality. Land operations reported 7.45 million manhours and one fatal incident while offshore operations reported 4.3 million manhours and no fatality.

“Pipes/tubulars” is the equipment category responsible for the most LTI and recordable incidents.

Africa combined land and offshore accounted for 56.47 million manhours with three fatalities. Onshore operations reported 30.39 million manhours with three fatalities while offshore had 26.08 million manhours and no fatalities.

The Middle East region accounted for 97.63 million manhours with three fatal incidents. The land division had 67.31 million manhours and two fatalities, and there were 30.32 million manhours and one fatality for the offshore division.

Asia Pacific accounted for 53.51 million manhours and two fatalities. Offshore had 36.98 million manhours with two fatalities while the land division had 16.52 million manhours and no fatality.

South America made up 56.13 million manhours with three fatalities. Land operations had 33.31 million manhours and one fatality while offshore had 22.82 million manhours and two fatalities.

LTI and recordable incidents by region

By activity, “tripping in/out” is the operation that involves the most LTI and recordable injuries and is followed closely by “rig up/down” and “rig repairs.”

One of the best improvements year-on-year was in the offshore LTI rate for the Asia Pacific region, which went down 45% from 0.29 in 2009 to 0.16 in 2010. The region’s recordables rate also improved 20% from 0.84 in 2009 to 0.67 in 2010.

European statistics also saw significant improvement, both onshore and offshore. Land workers saw their LTI rate improve 33% from 0.33 for 2009 to 0.22 for 2010, while their recordables rate improved 34% from 0.47 to 0.31. Offshore, the LTI rate was shaved by 30% from 0.30 to 0.21. Recordable incident rates worsened slightly to 0.74.

In 2009, Middle East land had an LTI rate of 0.23, which improved 22% to 0.18 in 2010. Their 2009 recordable incidence rate of 0.91 improved 5% to 0.86 in 2010. However, offshore the LTI rate worsened 53% from 0.15 in 2009 to 0.23 in 2010 and their recordable incidence rate also worsened 17% from 0.66 in 2009 to 0.77 in 2010.

As with past years, by far the most injuries in drilling operations occurred on the rig floor.

The Africa onshore LTI rate for 2009 was 0.43, and that improved 9% to 0.39 for 2010 while their recordable incidence rate improved by 23% from 1.50 in 2009 to 1.16 in 2010. Offshore workers in this region saw a worsening in their LTI rate by 25% from 0.20 in 2009 to 0.25 for 2010. The offshore recordable incidence rate also worsened, by 12% from 0.81 in 2009 to 0.91 in 2010.

The LTI among US offshore workers worsened by 20% from 0.20 in 2009 to 0.24 in 2010 while the total recordable incidence rate improved slightly from 0.87 in 2009 to 0.86 in 2010. US land workers’ LTI rate worsened 10% from 0.93 in 2009 to 1.02 in 2010 and their recordable incidence rate worsened 12% from 3.07 in 2009 to 3.44 in 2010.

Employees with between one and five years of service had the highest number of LTIs and recordables, followed by those with six months to one year of service.

Canada land’s LTI rate worsened by 82%, going from 0.19 in 2009 to 0.35 in 2010. Their recordable incidence rate worsened 118% from 1.05 in 2009 to 2.29 for 2010. Offshore, Canadian workers saw their 2009 LTI rate of zero worsen to 0.19 for 2010 and their recordable incidence rate of 0.94 for 2009 worsen 21% to 1.14 for 2010.

In the Central America and Caribbean region, the onshore 2010 LTI rate was 0.48 and the recordable incidence rate was 0.89. Central America and Caribbean offshore had an LTI rate of 0.05 and a recordable incidence rate of 0.42 for 2010.

09:00-16:00 hours was the leading category in lost-time injuries and recordable incidents by time of day.

South America land had an LTI rate of 0.23 and a recordable incidence rate of 0.94 while South America offshore saw a 2010 LTI rate of 0.39 and a recordable incidence rate of 1.03.

Other ISP findings

By occupation, the floorman position suffered the largest percentage of injuries, similar to previous years.

By body part, fingers remained the most vulnerable part of the body.

By incident type, “caught between” accounted for the most incidents and was closely followed by “struck by” injuries.

By equipment, pipes/tubulars was the equipment category responsible for the most LTIs and recordable incidents.

By activity, tripping in/out involved the most lost-time and recordable injuries.

By location, by far the most injuries in drilling operations occurred on the rig floor.

By time in service, employees with between one to five years of service had the most LTIs and recordables, followed by employees with six months to one year of service.

By time of day, the most LTI and recordable incidents occurred between 09:00 to 16:00 hours.

By month, June accounted for the most LTIs while August accounted for the most recordables.

Greatest risks

By month, June accounted for the most LTIs while August accounted for the most recordable incidents.

Incidents occur in many places around the rig and to all crew members. Incident data are analyzed by occupation, body part, incident type, equipment type, operation, location time in service, and time of day the incident occurred.

For more information about the IADC Incident Statistics Program or to participate in this program, please contact IADC regional vice president North America and lead staff land HSE issues Joe Hurt at +1/713-292-1945 or joe.hurt@iadc.org. Additional information can also be found online at the IADC website at www.iadc.org/asp.htm.

2010 Incident statistics report: How the industry performed

315 floormen suffered lost-time incidents out of a total 846 incidents reported.

Out of 847 LTIs, 170 fingers were reported as injured.

More than 870 recordable incidents out of a total of 3,010 incidents were in the “caught between” category.

398 recordable incidents out of a total 3,010 were attributed to the pipes/tubulars equipment category.